Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Evolution.

I am currently bogged down in the sleeves of the striped-hoodie-in-progress (tentatively titled "coastal hoodie"). I wish I didn't have such a penchant for long sleeves, but everytime I have knit an elbow length or 3/4 length sleeve sweater I end up not wearing it and wishing for long sleeves. The kind of sleeves that will completely cover your hands and that you have to roll back multiple times when doing anything messy. So, it really figures that I hate knitting sleeves, but the extra frustration is worth it for a sweater I will LOVE! Yeah, I admit that I am posting right now just to get away from those sleeves ;)

I wanted give you guys a little peek at the humble beginnings of my eBook, Myths and Fairytales. These are the original sketches (and names) that I put together for the book "proposal." I loved looking back at them after the book was released to see how much some changed and how much others stayed the same. Some designs had to change to work with the pattern repeats, or I found a way that I liked better after swatching.

Next up, Elisa, which underwent quite a major design change, from an extreme crescent to a shallow triangle:

Then, Daphnaie, which got a name change and I changed up the center panel, too:

Here is The Mermaid's Gift, I actually just ripped out the original sample the other day. The prototype was more than 75% complete when I decided to try the lattice/mesh patterns instead of the eyelets in the sketch...luckily I had an extra skein of the lace, so I didn't have to rip in case my second incarnation went wrong (which it totally didn't!):

Kisseis was a battle from the beginning! The transition from a triangle to a crescent helped immensely, but I swatched every possible diamond pattern I could think of and added, then subtracted stitches. Nothing was working and I was too stubborn for a long time to admit it! Once I figured out that I should take a break and think about what I was doing, instead of trying to fit that square peg in the round hole...it worked beautifully!

Finally, Amalthea, which actually is pretty much exactly as sketched, I just nixed the bead idea....though I am thinking of knitting one up with some beads.

I hope you enjoyed a look back to the infancy of the eBook! If you have a chance, pop over to PeacefullyKnitting's blog, where Daphnaie is the featured pattern and you can enter for a chance to win a copy of Myths and Fairytales!